[overworked]

The Evil Empire doesn't like me!

Recently, I have completed slipstreaming SP4 and all the SP5 hotfixes into a W2K distribution. In testing this it has become apparent that something isn't quite right. I get an event 49 ftdisk error configuring the page file for crash dump on all the test machines.

Searching the docs for this error leads to 2 situations/solutions which do not apply.
1) This error can occur when you increase the RAM in a machine without increasing the page file accordingly. Then if the machine crashes, the page file is too small for the memory dump.
2) An error that was supposedly fixed with SP4 and included version 5.0.2195.5505 of Ntkrnlmp.exe, Ntkrnlpa.exe, Ntkrpamp.exe and Ntoskrnl.exe. I'm at version 5.0.2195.6902.

I have compared the version and MD5 of ftdisk.sys being deployed and running on machines that don't exhibit this error. They are the same. I have examined the registry of well behaved machines vs. those of the test machines. I'm at a complete loss. Aside from pulling out the SysInternals tools and looking at what files are involved prior to the error being generated, I just don't know what else to do. If anyone has encountered this problem and has a solution I sure would like to hear about it. Wading through Filemon and Regmon logs just isn't my forte.

Regards,
-Overworked-

[overworked]

Well, I tried to delete the pagefile.sys by going into performance options and selecting a file size of 0 bytes. This appeared to remove the pagefile. Then when I rebooted W2K created a new small page file for me. The same error persists. I've compared the registry settings for ftdisk.sys on well behaved systems and errant systems from the new deployment. I am fairly certain MS has created a file mismatch for me with KB835732 (MS04-011).

25-Feb-2004 23:55 5.0.2195.6902 1,699,904 Ntkrnlmp.exe
25-Feb-2004 23:55 5.0.2195.6902 1,699,264 Ntkrnlpa.exe
25-Feb-2004 23:55 5.0.2195.6902 1,720,064 Ntkrpamp.exe
11-Mar-2004 02:37 5.0.2195.6902 1,726,032 Ntoskrnl.exe

These are the files that I think may be related to the problem. I found a MS bulletin that said these files were replaced in SP4 to cure the same error....although the file versions were earlier. To avoid finding old files delivered in my deployment, I usually have to take apart the cab files, update them and put them back together in the deployment. Thus, these files would not only be included in the I386 directory but also the SP4 cab file. I have seen older versions of files pulled out of cabs too many times (even with the appropriate security cats in place). Also, I noticed that ftdisk.sys was not replaced in the KB835732 patch. I guess my next step will be to put together a deployment excluding this patch and apply the patch at the end of the deployment as you would with a previously installed OS. If the test system without this patch does not have the error and by applying this patch the error shows up, we'll know that this patch is responsible. Also, I'll take a snapshot of the registry before and after, in the event that the error doesn't appear, I'll look for differences in the registry that may cause the problem.....If I had to do his for all the MS patches, I'd QUIT!

I'll let you know what I find....although it may be a few days (this is my part-time job).

-overworked-

[overworked]

[overworked]

Maybe the Evil Empire isn't so evil after all....

This morning I started a support case with them. They were kind enough to pick-up the tab on this support issue. I'll let you know how we end up resolving this issue.

Stay tuned....more to come ;-)

-overworked-

[DS3Circuit]

Event ID 49 Is Logged After Adding Random Access Memory
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=226448

Event ID 49 After You Start Your Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.asp...;NoWebContent=1

Event ID 49 Entry Is Added to the System Event Log When You Use the 3GB Switch in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=319931

Quote:

As per Microsoft: "A Memory.dmp file is created when a kernel mode STOP error occurs on a computer that has the "crash dump" feature enabled. If the page file is unable to accommodate a Memory.dmp file, debugging the problem is not possible. The page file is configured for crash dump when your computer starts, and the behavior described earlier in this article is logged when the physical memory on the computer is greater than the size of the Pagefile.sys file.".

Q319931 refers to all W2K servers: This problem is caused by a bug in the Memory Manager when it tries to allocate a contiguous run of free memory" and provides a fix.

I just wanted to add some quicks links and quotes that I saw in my travels to help resolve your issue.

Ping us back with the answer

[rsbrux]

Originally posted by ds3circuit:

Quote:

Event ID 49 Is Logged After Adding Random Access Memory
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=226448

Event ID 49 After You Start Your Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.asp...;NoWebContent=1

Event ID 49 Entry Is Added to the System Event Log When You Use the 3GB Switch in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=319931

Quote:

As per Microsoft: "A Memory.dmp file is created when a kernel mode STOP error occurs on a computer that has the "crash dump" feature enabled. If the page file is unable to accommodate a Memory.dmp file, debugging the problem is not possible. The page file is configured for crash dump when your computer starts, and the behavior described earlier in this article is logged when the physical memory on the computer is greater than the size of the Pagefile.sys file.".

Q319931 refers to all W2K servers: This problem is caused by a bug in the Memory Manager when it tries to allocate a contiguous run of free memory" and provides a fix.

I just wanted to add some quicks links and quotes that I saw in my travels to help resolve your issue.

Ping us back with the answer

Q3139931 says that this problem was corrected in SP4. I have long since installed SP4, but have the error message in my event viewer for every system start for several weeks now. I have (repeatedly) deleted the pagefile and recreated it with various sizes. I now have a 512MB pagefile for 256MB memory, and have disabled crash dump completely. Nonetheless, this error message is still appearing. The system also refuses to shutdown, but produces no error message in normal mode (just blank background screen for W2k). In safe mode, shutdown often produces blue screen with error message 0x9f DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. All of this was working fine a few weeks ago.

What else can I do?

Tearing my hair out,
rsbrux